“ What is the status of my e-filing return?” , “How to show interest on Saving account in Income Tax Return“, “I have question about Income Tax Refund/Processing of my return“. At times we have such income tax related questions.  To assist taxpayers Income tax department has  various organziations where one can contact. For example CPC has established Customer care helpline, a limited call center service at ITD-CPC, Bangalore for queries related to ITR-V Receipt Status, Refund /Refund re-issue, Rectification, Income tax /PAN/TAN, e-Filing of returns, e-Filing Login, Form 26AS and Form 16.  Aayakar Sampark Kendra (ASK) is one of the initiatives of the Income Tax Department to  answer queries related to the status of PAN & TAN applications, procedure of filing of Income tax & Wealth tax returns, downloading of calls and other general queries. This article provides Official Income Tax Helpline numbers one can call to get details of ITR processing,Refund etc and gives overview of Income tax associated websites such as CPC, ASK,TRACES, efiling .

Income Tax Helpline Numbers of CPC, NSDL

The various sites associated with Income Tax Department are given below.

• Income Tax efiling website:  It is comprehensive and one-stop source of information related to e-Filing of Income Tax Returns and Forms as well as status of Processing/ Refunds of the tax payers.
• Centralized Processing Centre or CPC :  (CPC) at Bangalore processes all electronically filed returns in the country.
  
• Aaykar Sampark Kendra or ASK : Aayakar Sampark Kendra (ASK) answers queries related to the status of PAN & TAN applications, procedure of filing of Income tax & Wealth tax returns, downloading of calls and other general queries
• TIN NSDL: Tax Information Network (TIN) is an initiative by Income Tax Department of India (ITD) of using information technology for collection, processing, monitoring and accounting of direct taxes .  NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited (NSDL e-Gov) was originally setup as a Depository in 1995 and has over the years worked closely with various Government agencies for designing, managing and implementing e-Governance Projects.
• TRACES: TRACES stands for TDS Reconciliation Analysis and Correction Enabling System and has been set up by TDS Centralised Processing Cell of the income-tax department.
• TRPs : Tax Return Preparer Scheme(TRPS) seeks to assist small and marginal taxpayers in preparing and filing their tax returns by creating a legion of ‘Tax Return Preparers’ (TRPs). It was conceptualized by the Income Tax Department (ITD) and launched in 2006-07.

Customer Care Helpline Number of Income tax associated websites on Type of Queries

Queries	Organization	Customer Care	Other Details
ITR-V Receipt Status,	CPC	1800-425- 2229(Toll free) 080-22546500	Timings of CPC Bangalore : 8 am to 8 pm  from Monday to Friday Languages: The service is available in English, Hindi and Kannada.
Refund /Refund re-issue Rectification Notification & Processing	CPC	1800-425- 2229(Toll free)
Income tax /PAN/TAN General Queries	ASK	1800 180 1961
e-Filing of returns e-Filing Login	CPC	1800 4250 0025 /+91 80 2650 0025
Income tax/PAN/TAN General Queries	ASK	18001801961/1961
PAN / TAN PAN / TAN updation	TIN-NSDL www.tin-nsdl.com	+91 20 2721 8080	www.tin-nsdl.com NSDL: Working Hours :09 AM to 08 PM – Monday to Saturday
Form 26AS Form 16	TRACES	1800 103 034	AaykarBhawan, Sector-3, Vaishali, Ghaziabad, U.P. – 201010 www.tdscpc.gov.incontactus@tdscpc.gov.in
Locate TRPs Register for Home Visit Online Tax Help	TRPS	18001023738 Toll free number [9 am to 6 pm – 6 days a week Phone support]	www.trpscheme.com helpdesk@trpscheme.com feedback@trpscheme.com

Tax Helplines at Income Tax Website

Websites associated with Income Tax in India: Income Tax eFiling,CPC,TRACES,ASK

TCS manages the e-filing income tax portal, Infosys manages the CPC and TRACES. The various sites associated with Income Tax Department and who manages them is given below.

Income Tax efiling website and TCS

On Aug 28-31 2015, an average of 1.5 million e-filed tax returns a day, much more than the combined daily average bookings of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (600,000) and Flipkart (100,000). On August 30 and 31, 1,500-2,000 e-filings were recorded every minute, going up to 3,000 at the peak. According to officials at the income tax department’s central processing centre (CPC) 18.4 million e-filings of income tax returns as of August 31,2015.  Ref:Rediff

In 2012, TCS took charge of managing the e-filing services from Hewlett-Packard, after winning a five-year contract from the Central Board of Direct Taxes. The company manages the service end-to-end, from providing infrastructure and connectivity to building the applications.

In 2015, e-validation services were provided  on the income tax portal, which means taxpayers do not have to send a hard copy of the returns to the CPC for validation.

The new centralized system enables:

• Real-time reconciliation of TDS filings and refund claims
• Instant detection of erroneous claims and faster payment of verified claims
• Significant savings for the government by reducing the interest accumulation on delayed tax refunds

CPC or Income Tax Department Centralized Processing Centre

CPC has reduced the processing time of IT returns considerably. As against average processing time of more than 12 months in past, CPC succeeded to bring it down to around 65 days and nw less than a month(in some cases even a week). Infosys has been processing tax returns filed online by Indian citizens since 2009. 

The Establishment of the Centralized Processing Centre (CPC), Rs. 255 crore project, was approved by the Union Cabinet in February 2009 and work was awarded to Infosys Technologies Limited on February 23rd, 2009. CPC moved in its facility on May 26th, 2009 and 56,000sq ft area on three floors of facility was completed by July 2009. First Return of Income was processed at CPC in October 2009, and full fledged processing commenced from January 2010.

There are 14 services that have been implemented as part of the CPC solution, which are, Logistics, scanning, data entry/digitization, Tax accounting, interface with legacy systems, processing of returns, refunds, printing & despatch, dedicated on-site hi-tech post office, record management, call centre and advanced customer support

For more detail Press Information Bureau of Government of India:Centralized Processing Centre: Faster Processing of IT Returns Through Automation.

TRACES and Infosys

TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) Centralized Processing Cell (CPC) or TDS CPC is a initiative of the Income Tax Department (ITD) to enable easy filing of TDS / TCS correction statements by deductors / collectors and related functionalities. TDS CPC endeavours to improve overall service levels for deductors and tax payers. Deductors / collectors can file online correction statements after registering on TRACES. Tax Payers can also register to view and download Form 26AS. TDS CPC will facilitate timely filing and processing of statements and follow-up with deductors / collectors for rectification of defaults to enable correct reporting of TDS / TCS. The system has been designed to bring in transparency and efficiency to the taxation process.

In 2011, Infosys was selected by Income Tax Department as its services provider to facilitate central processing of TDS filings by business entities. As part of this new agreement, Infosys provides comprehensive services to the department including technology infrastructure, maintenance, and upgrade of applications for the Tax Deduction Reconciliation, Analysis, and Correction Enabling System, better known as TRACES.

TRACES covers the following areas with respect to TDS / TCS statements:

For Deductors / Collectors

• Registration on TRACES
• Add sub-users for a TAN
• View challan status
• Download NSDL Conso File
• Download Justification Report
• PAN Verification
• Download Form 16 / 16A
• Manage Profile
• Download Consolidated TAN-PAN File
• Dashboard View

For Tax Payers

• Registration and Login
• View Form 26AS
• View and edit profile
• Provide Feedback

Aayakar Sampark Kendra or ASK

Aayakar Sampark Kendra (ASK) is one of the initiatives of the Income Tax Department to provide Taxpayer Information and Services to the taxpayers across the country. It was inaugurated at Jangipur, Murshidabad, West Bengal on 14th April 2012.

The Call Centres can be accessed through a Toll Free Number 1800 180 1961 or Short Code 1961 from any Landline/Mobile Number. The National Call Centre is located at Gurgaon and Regional Centres at Jangipur, Jammu, Shillong and Kochi.

Apart from Hindi and English the caller has an option to get information in the local language too.

It answers queries related to the status of PAN & TAN applications, procedure of filing of Income tax & Wealth tax returns, downloading of calls and other general queries. The nature of grievances received at ASK is broadly as below:-

• PAN Correction/De-duplication
• TAN Correction/De-duplication
• Pending Refunds
• Refund Adjustment against Demand
• efiling Rectification / Intimation u/s 143/154
• Payment of taxes under OLTAS etc.

Taxpayers have also been provided a facility to register grievances through email through the call centres of ASK. At present the grievances are received by e-mail at ASK call centres on following e-mail ids:-

(i) ask@incometax.gov.in
(ii) pan@incometax.gov.in
(iii) refunds@incometax.gov.in

Related Articles:

• Income Tax for FY 2015-16 AY 2016-17
• Registering on Income Tax efiling Website
• Income Tax for Beginner, Income Tax For Beginner – Part II
• E-Filing of Income Tax Return
• Viewing Form 26AS on TRACES

Have you used any of the Income Tax associated websites? If yes, which one . How was your experience? I wish there was a website to contact the Assessing Officer? What do you think?